In my copending application, Ser. No. 295,002, filed Aug. 21, 1981, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,576,777, issued Mar. 18, 1966 and entitled Energy Detection Method and Apparatus, there is disclosed a method of and apparatus for detecting a beam of neutrino or antineutrino particles wherein the beam is incident on a crystal arranged so it has coherent inelastic scatterers for the particles. Individual atoms in the crystal absorb energy from the particles to scatter the particles and produce stimulated coherent radiant energy fields. The coherent fields produced by the individual atoms are detected to provide an indication of the presence of the neutrino or antineutrino particles in the beam.
In the invention of the copending application, the inelastic scattering and energy exchange between the neutrino or antineutrino particles and the scatterers occur because the crystal is placed in an electromagnetic field which induces nuclear spin changes in the crystals. In the present invention, there is elastic scattering because the crystal is not subjected to an electromagnetic field and no nuclear spin state change is induced in the crystal by the neutrino or antineutrino particles of the beam incident thereon. By employing elastic, rather than inelastic scattering, the present invention has a scattering cross-section that is 10.sup.5 times the cross-section of the inelastic scatterers. The elastic scatterers do not absorb significant energy from the neutrino or antineutrino particles, in contrast to the energy absorption by the inelastic scatterers.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved apparatus for and method of detecting a beam of neutrino or antineutrino particles that has greater sensitivity than the prior art neutrino or antineutrino detection methods and apparatus.
A further object of the invention is to provide a new and improved apparatus for and method of detecting a beam of neutrino or antineutrino particles by utilizing crystals containing coherent scatterers for the particles.
An additional object of the invention is to provide a new and improved apparatus for and method of detecting a beam of neutrino or antineutrino particles wherein a crystal containing coherent scatterers for the particles includes scatterers that recoil as a single entity, and thereby provide greater sensitivity than the prior art method and apparatus.